Later in his life, Peter Benchley regretted writing about sharks in a way that he felt encouraged excessive fear and unnecessary killings of such an important predator in ocean ecosystems, and he became an outspoken advocate for marine conservation.

This was one of my favorite cartoons as a kid, although I didn’t get to see it too terribly much; see, it came on during the Pink Panther and Friends show on NBC–a Pink Panther cartoon would be first, then,randomly, one of the companion cartoons would be aired, such as Misterjaw, The Tijuana Toads, The Inspector, or The Ant and the Aardvark—all great-looking cartoons and very funny.
Misterjaw was brought to life in voice by Arte Johnson. If you watched Laugh-In, you’d remember him as the German soldier with the catchphrase “Verrrry interesting”. Appropriately, Johnson’s shark alter ego spoke with a German accent and mispronounced words frequently, such as “knucklehead” pronounced as “ka-nucklehead”.

Misterjaw with Catfish, whom he called “pal-lie” when he felt friendly and “macaroni brain” when Catfish irritated him.

With his sidekick, Catfish (voiced by Arnold Stang) egging him on, Misterjaw liked to leap out of the water and shout “HEEGotcha!” or “Gotcha!” at unsuspecting fishermen or beachgoers who would flee in terror, yelling “SHARK!!” The duo also spent a lot of time chasing a small fish named Harry Halibut. They also seemed to have a strange ability to come on land at will and walk or run around–well, that’s cartoons for ya. 🙂

Let’s start off Shark Week small, but with a bit of light…specifically, the Dwarf Lantern Shark!

The Dwarf Lantern Shark is the tiniest known species of shark; however, because of its being present only on the upper continental slopes off Colombia and Venezuela, at a depth of 928–1,440 feet, little has been learned about this wee member of the dogfish family. It reaches a length of only eight inches and, like many deep-sea fish, its skin cells contain light-producing photophores that make it glow in the dark to attract prey. When taken out of its deep sea environment, it can be seen as a dark brownish grey with black markings on its back.

Many people continue to think of sharks as man-eating beasts. Sharks are enormously powerful and wild creatures, but you’re more likely to be killed by your kitchen toaster than a shark! ~Ted Danson, founder of Oceana